Massachusetts deer herd in good shape

The good news is that the deer herd is in very healthy shape, mostly due to good management.

The bad news is that due to a wet spring, the number of newborn turkeys is at its lowest in the state’s history.

This could mean an increase by MassWildlife in the number of deer to be taken in certain management areas and a shortened turkey season.

It would appear that the best measure to increased turkey numbers would be to not allow the taking of hens in the 2010 fall season, or at least giving out a limited number of hen permits. The spring turkey season would remain the shooting of toms only.

Of course the biggest aid to the population would be a dry 2010 spring. The continuous rains of this past spring wreaked havoc on egg and poult survival.

Sandwiched between these two issues is the new saltwater fishing registration, a license in this book, that goes into effect in 2011. Those states that do not comply with the federal mandate of 2006 will see fees of $15 to $25. I would hazard that some states will take the federal government to court on the saltwater registration law.

The law is to better manage recreational salt-water fishing and fish.

As expected, the registration is backed nearly unanimously by those in charge of state salt-water programs.

He has been an editorial staff member of National Geographic and Audubon Magazine.

His subject will be “Wet flies, their history, how to tie them, how best to fish them.”

The Fly Tyers Corner will be at 7 p.m., with demonstrations by chapter president Paul Beaulieu of the original cone-head, egg-sucking leach pattern that fooled an 8-pound landlocked salmon in October and tricked a Pere Marquette steelhead in November.

Officers and directors for the coming year will be voted on.

Beaulieu had high praise for program chairman Bill Donnelly for coming up with top-flight speakers all 12 months.

BONEHEAD COWARDS: A woman fishing the Swift River Fly Fishing Only section had two spin cast fishermen tossing live baits over her line and into the fly pools. When it was pointed out that it was a fly-fishing-only area, they cursed and threatened the fly fisherman and followed this up with another courageous act. They slashed her tires.

Police are working on several leads and anyone with information can call (413) 323-7561.

BIRDIE: Golf pro Bob Bontempo has shot many a bird and more than his share of eagles in his golfing career, but this wildlife sighting was a brand new experience for him. While golfing Ledges, he and his party had to wait at the “Do Not Pass Go” line while 40 wild turkeys did their wiggle and a giggle, awkward but poetic movement across the fairway.

A pleasant interlude, I mean with Bob relatively used to seeing Canada geese fertilizing the fairways, coyotes grinning from the rough and fox stealing golf balls. He still wasn’t prepared for a full-grown cougar checking his swing.

There have been more and more cougar and bobcat sightings the past few years than in my recollection of a half-century of outdoor writing.

Of course it could be worse. While golfing in Mexico I decided against retrieving a ball in a waterhole when I spotted what appeared to be a brace of green-yellow golf balls near the surface. They were the eyes of an alligator the size of a war canoe eyeballing me like I was a walking, talking link of linquica.

BEAR WITH THEM: Three black bears meandered through our neighborhood recently while a Chicopee resident was wide-eyed over a big bruin was licking the grease off his grill on the family porch.

DUCK IN A TRUCK: Bad news Fido; in some cases dog is no long man’s best friend.

The duck in a truck saga all started when Joe Mansheim paid $700 for a top-notch hunting dog that would not hunt.

Joe’s boss joked, according to Delta Waterfowl magazine, that it would have been cheaper to just buy a duck than a dog, so Joe went and ordered a duck, a mallard drake, as a joke.

The next thing you know, Joe, who delivers construction materials to various sites, has a duck as a passenger, and you might know he named the duck Frank. Give me a break. Joe talks to the pet and feeds it bananas (does he think it’s a monkey?) and was quoted by reporter Boyd Huppert of station KARE 11 as declaring, “If more people had a duck in their lives, we wouldn’t all be so mad at each other.”

One question from this reporter, Joe, “You said you still duck hunt; how does Frank feel when you come home with a brace of mallards?”

“It’s Ma! Brother Tim!”

Duck owners might not be so mad at each other, but I would guess the ducks would have their noses (ah, beaks) out of joint.

GOTTA LOVE IT: Here is a bit of wisdom from a past generation that the modern generation apparently cannot answer – “It is hard to understand how a funeral parlor raises its rates and blames it on the cost of living.”